


Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

by johnnyzbabe



Category: Backstreet Boys
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-07
Updated: 2016-12-07
Packaged: 2018-09-07 00:54:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8776654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/johnnyzbabe/pseuds/johnnyzbabe
Summary: Nick reflects on his life before, during and what may come after Backstreet Boys.





	

Yesterday:  
Yesterday wasn’t really t he day before but twenty plus years ago when I was just a bright eyed twelve year old still doing want his mother wanted, mostly. At that time I had a choice, I could work for the Disney company on an update to a show they once had on TV or I could join an unknown boy band. As we all know I chose the latter and look where I am today.

A kid only twelve really isn’t old enough to make adult decisions like I did but my history is well known by the Backstreet Boys’ fans. The endless fights I witnessed as a child and thinking that if I could work all the problems would go away. That was one reason why I wanted to go into the businesses of entertainment. That was one place a child could work and still stay in school. Really school didn’t matter as much as the money I would be making. 

I started out with small parts in movies. Mostly just background characters with no lines or mentioned in the ending credits. I loved it though, the characters that were being played by some of the more seasoned actors was fun to watch even learning from them even though they weren’t really teaching me directly. I was a sponge back then.

Next, came, the big break so to speak with a local businessman by the name of Lou Pearlman helped with that. He was the money behind the group when we first started. Five male voices blending as one was the concept he had. What he got were five kids who really didn’t know what was going too happened but blindly followed along. The first three was Howie (Tony), AJ, and me. We kind of knew each other a little bit through the Orlando talent circuit. Next we met Kevin, who to me seemed old, even though Howie and he weren’t that far apart in age. We had a fifth guy but he bowed out soon after we started rehearsals but luckily for us Kevin called his cousin and well the rest is history.

Started out slow with small venues around the Orlando area, mainly high schools and theme park shows at first but Lou kept telling us that we are going to be huge. He was working on getting us auditions at some of the biggest music studios in the country. During that time we started to become family for each other. With endless days on the road or ten to twenty hour rehearsal times you learn what buttons to push. Sometimes we did that just for fun. But during of those endless tours we had learned of a record deal with Mercury Records, but that deal fell through and we had to start all over. It wasn’t too much longer when we got a permanent deal with Jive Records a small company with big dreams, a perfect fit at the time. Life started to change after that.

Today  
Today we are the biggest selling boy band in the world. That title came with a lot of heartache, sweat, and tears. The first was when Kevin stepped back to start a family. That hurt the worst; I loved him secretly for ever but never said anything. I was time for me to grow up and take on a new role in the group. We all did, AJ had gone to rehab and came back stronger and healthier that before. He did have a few missteps along the way but he has always said, that for it to stick you have to work the program. 

I even had a few missteps myself, with being diagnosed with cardiomyopath, which changed my whole outlook on life. I stopped with the drugs and alcohol then started working out. That helped with a lot. 

During this time I started my solo career. At first with a lot of grief from the other fellas because I stayed with the Firm when we a group choose to sever our ties. Eventually after all the fighting was over we stayed friends, brothers even. Also a few of them got married, well the cousins did anyway.

We released our next album Never Gone after taking a couple of years off. We needed that break with all the fighting and pushing of buttons. It was good we came back refreshed and with a fire in our soul again. The tour was great but the end was when Kevin told us he wanted to step away and start his family. I was crushed but agreed with the others and wrote up a new contract with Jive to release at least two more records without Kevin but with a stipulation that at any time he would return.

We released Unbreakable as way of saying that we aren’t leaving and never will be. It was fun with just the four of us. We each had a chance to have lead on various songs on this album. During that time I met Lauren and fell in love for real. She’s a wonderful woman who came to understand my insecurities as well as our crazy lives. Not much longer and we released This is Us, fitting title at the time. I think since Black and Blue we kind of be thumbing our noses at the media ever since, again a really fun tour.

Now we are celebrating our twentieth anniversary as a group and the return of Kevin. During that last few years Howie got married to Leigh, AJ married Rochelle and now both of them have children. Brian was the first with Baylee; we joke and call him his mini me. Next Kevin became a dad to Maxwell in 2007, Howie in 2009, AJ had the only girl in 2012, Kevin and Howie each ha d a second some in 2013 then I became a dad in 2016 and AJ announced that in 2017 he and wife will have their second daughter.

Tomorrow

We can never know for sure. Fate has a strange way of working out for us. I just hope that I maintain my health and that we each find success with both the group and solo.


End file.
